SonnyWatch: Perdue’s confirmation hearing date set

WASHINGTON — Former Gov. Sonny Perdue’s Senate confirmation hearing will come nine weeks after President Donald Trump first tapped the Republican to lead the Department of Agriculture.

The Senate Agriculture Committee will consider Perdue’s nomination on March 23, the committee announced Thursday evening.

The hearing is not expected to be a particularly contentious one. The Ag committee is fairly bipartisan and many Democrats have already said nice things about Perdue, although more stories have emerged in the national press about some of his run-ins with the state’s ethics commission when he was governor. U.S. Sen. David Perdue, Sonny’s first cousin, is also a member of the panel.

The hearing will come at the same time as another prominent confirmation fight on Capitol Hill: Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is also being vetted by the Senate that week. That will likely shift much of the spotlight off of Perdue.

You can stream the event on the Senate Agriculture Committee’s website.